My Memories From Magic Summer Live 2013

15Jul

Howdy ladies and gents of the north, south, east and west. Today I’m gonna be talking about arguably the best Saturday I have experienced in recent memory. On Saturday July 13th I embarked on a trip to Stoke Park in Guildford to attend the Magic Summer Live festival, while all of the musicians on the main stage had something special to show off, I was mainly going because I was FINALLY going to see Jamiroquai live for the first time! So I was proper excited. So now it’s obviously Monday and I still say that I haven’t gotten over what I saw… Ladies and gents this was quite simply the best day of my life for AGES!

So now I’m going to talk about the different people I saw so be prepared!

Soul II Soul

Unfortunately due to me being late on the train I only caught the last few minutes of this act, but they sounded great. I got to hear their classic single “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)” and it was beautiful, Caron Wheeler’s voice was still wonderful and very similar to how she sounds on the original track so that was a plus.

Beverly Knight

Alrighty then, from here this is where my day started to get interesting. Now I don’t have anything against Beverly Knight, she is a great singer, but not of her more recent material has been as memorable or as catchy as her earlier work. So with that in mind I was expecting something decent, but her act on-stage was nothing short of incredible and I really was impressed. When she was introduced she walked onto the stage singing in a high-pitched and soulful fashion, it was a very dramatic entrance. Then from there she sang a few of her old songs along with a few covers too. I loved how in between songs she talked to the audience in a very laid back and London-like fashion, it was funny. My personal highlights was when she incorporated Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” lyrics into one of her songs and when she did a great cover of the Brave New Heavies’ song “Apparently Nothing“.

Nile Rodgers featuring Chic

Now honestly before Jamiroquai came on this was the highlight of the day. Nile Rodgers and Chic were nothing short of astonishing. Trying to describe their set would be like trying to describe why food is so addictive to a fat person. You can’t explain it, but when you have it, IT’S SO DAMN GOOD! I knew that Nile Rodgers was a great guitarist but I never knew that his skills were so badass. Also along with Chic it made for one of the most impressive live acts I have seen in my life. They performed several of their hits including “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)”, “Everybody Dance”, “La Freak”, “I Want Your Love” and “Good Times“. And then they even included some of Nile Rodgers’ other singles through his guitar work by other artists like Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family“, Diana Ross’ “Upside Down” and my personal favourite David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance“. Honestly it was the best thing ever, there was so much power, style and a good groove in the air that you couldn’t help but fall in love. Everything about it was perfect and besides Rodgers, the bassist Jerry Barnes was such a beast! His playing skills were incredible and I think he was doing a bit of slap bass and it was beautiful!

Ocean Colour Scene

Now this band is one I am familiar with from the 90s but never been an avid fan or known too many of their song, but I decided to stick around and have a listen. I actually really liked their material, they came on and started their set with a song I hadn’t heard in years “The Riverboat Song“, it was intense and sounded amazing. After that the group played a few new songs and more classics of which I wasn’t aware of. But at the end they played the song I had waited for, “The Day We Caught The Train“, that is a song I’ve known since I was like 6 or 7 years old and the only Ocean Colour Scene song I know very well, so I enjoyed that a lot.

Joss Stone

Knowing that there was only this act standing between me and Jamiroquai was hard, but I decided, hell I’m gonna be good at check out Joss Stone first. Now I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of hers, not to say that she’s a bad singer, far from it. It’s just that her music is just my cup of tea. But I have to say her performance was pretty damn impressive, the songs she did were a set of her own singles with some covers too and I really liked her vocals along with the cool musicians accompanying her.

Jamiroquai

Now it’s time to talk about the big one, the band I’d waited all day to see, Jamiroquai. The anticipation after seeing Joss Stone was incredibly high and I couldn’t stand the wait, but then, without any introduction, members of the band just started coming onto the stage and playing a song and next thing you know Jay Kay jumps out and starts the tune. HOLY CHRIST IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL INTRODUCTION! There were so many singles from Jamiroquai’s discography that were played that night, most of them were old classics like “High Times”, “Alright”, “When You Gonna Learn?” and “Canned Heat” to name a few. But it was the way in which they were done which was special, all the songs had new arrangements and some even transitioned from one to the next and it all sounded so gorgeous and I was stand right at the front of the stage singing me heart out and dancing away. It was the best thing ever. The highlight songs were “Travelling Without Moving“, “Runaway” and “White Knuckle Ride” for sure.

In conclusion Magic Summer Live was one of the best events I have ever attended in my life. I haven’t felt so much happiness and satisfaction since the first or second time I went to the London MCM Expo back in 2008/9. While I think it would have been better I had someone to share the magic with, honestly I still had a great time on my own. The music acts were incredible and will stay with me for a lifetime so yeah I can’t complain at all. I just wanna live it all over again. 😀

Okay so that was my review of Magic Summer Live 2013 hope you enjoyed it. Also if you attended the festival too I’d love to hear your thoughts on it too, just drop them in the comments below. Alrighty then I’m off, peace out people! 😀